Berhampur: Patients at MKCG Hospital here will now get greater accuracy for tests on tuberculosis detection with the installation of a Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test machine at the facility on Saturday.
The results for the test can be determined in just two hours.
Health services director Braja Kishore Brahma and dean-cum-principal of the MKCG Medical College and Hospital Radha Madhab Tripathy jointly inaugurated the machine at the building of Regional Diagnistic Centre on the college campus.
"The machine is an important tool to diagnose tuberculosis in just two hours. In the private hospitals, the testing is done for Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,500. Now, at the hospital's centre, it will be conducted free of cost. It is also an effective tool for HIV-infected and paediatric patients. Besides, it will also report whether the patient is suffering from multiple drug resistance TB," said Ganjam district tuberculosis officer Amulya Kumar Mishra.
"The machine determines the results from raw sputumissue material such as FNAC, biopsy and pus in a couple of hours without requirement of highly trained personnel and solid culture, which takes about 30 to 60 days," Mishra said.
District programme co-ordinator of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme Gyana Ranjan Mohanty said 16 tests could be conducted a day by using the machine. "The equipment is capable of testing four sputum samples simultaneously," Mohanty said.
"It is a polymer chain reaction-based method for tuberculosis detection in place of the chest X-ray, AFB staining, microscopy, culture and mantoux test methods followed so far. The machine is manufactured by a France-based company, Cepheid, which has a branch in New Delhi and Lab India is the auto service partner. The machine costs Rs 16 lakh, and each cartridge costs Rs 900," said Lab India service engineer Aurobinda Mallick.
Ganjam district programme manager of the National Health Mission Shyam Sundar Tripathy said early detection of tuberculosis and drug resistance to the treatment for diagnosed patients can be initiated to cut the transmission of the disease.
"Sometimes doctors initiate treatment even as patients await results. Later, the treatment may prove futile if the test results turn out to be negative. Such confusions can be avoided with the equipment providing instant results. People who were suffering from the symptoms such as sweating during night, loss of weight, chest pain, loss of appetite and blood in mucus, should immediately consult a doctor and undergo tests. If they use medicines for tuberculosis for six to nine months, they will be cured," Tripathy said.
Two such machines have been installed at government hospitals, including City Hospital in Berhampur on December 2015 and sub-divisional hospital, Bhanjanagar, three weeks ago.
